Zulu War

Zulu war (1879). Under paramount chief Shaka, who created a unique social structure based entirely on military lines, the Zulus had become the strongest tribal power in southern Africa. By the 1870s the Zulu army under paramount chief Cetchewayo numbered 50, 000 warriors, posing a significant threat even to white settlers if provoked. This brought the Zulus into conflict with the British of Cape Colony, who had annexed neighbouring Natal in 1843 and the Transvaal Republic in 1877.

British government policy was not deliberately expansionist, but failed to restrain its own representatives. The High Commissioner for South Africa, Sir Bartle Frere, argued that the Zulus represented an unacceptable threat to plans for a confederation of South Africa. On 11 December 1878 the British presented Cetchewayo with an ultimatum, giving him a month to disband his army and end the military structure of Zulu society. Meanwhile an army of 16, 800 British regular forces and local volunteers (including the Natal Native Contingent or NNC) assembled in Natal under Lt Gen Lord Chelmsford. The contest would be chiefly one of charging spear-armed Zulu foot warriors against British infantry with breach-loading rifles, which given the courage and organized battle tactics of the Zulus was not a foregone conclusion.

Chelmsford divided his force into columns to converge on the Zulu capital of Ulundi: Number 1 Column of 5, 000 troops along the coast under Col Charles Pearson, Number 4 Column of 2, 250 troops under Col Evelyn Wood from the north, and Number 3 Column of 4, 700 troops in the centre under Col Richard Glyn with Chelmsford himself, supported by Number 2 Column of 1, 500 NNC under Col Anthony Durnford.

On 12 January the invasion began with Chelmsford's main force crossing into Zululand at the ford of Rorke's Drift. Pearson's column won an early victory against 6, 000 Zulus at Nyezane Drift on 22 January. On the same day, Chelmsford controversially divided his own force, going south with Glyn. The remaining 1, 700 troops encamped at Isandhlwana mountain under Lt Col Henry Pulleine, reinforced by 500 NNC mounted troops under Durnford, were attacked by half the Zulu army under Chiefs Ntshingwayo and Mavumengwana and wiped out. About 4, 000 Zulus under Chief Dabulamanzi carried on to Rorke's Drift on the same day. The garrison of 140 men under two lieutenants held out for two days before the Zulus retired. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded for Rorke's Drift, a record for a single British battle.

With his campaign in ruins Chelmsford fell back and Wolseley was sent out to replace him. The Zulus, who had suffered heavy losses, did not invade Natal, although they did surround Pearson's column at Eshowe. On 2 April a relief force for Pearson under Chelmsford was attacked by the Zulus at Gingindlovu. Fighting from a wagon-laager, British firepower inflicted a heavy defeat on the Zulus. Wood's attack on the Zulu stronghold at Hlobane mountain on 28 March was also a failure. He fell back to a wagon-laagered position at Khambula ridge, where next day he also fought off a major Zulu attack.

After reinforcements arrived, Chelmsford's second invasion of Zululand began on 31 May. The 1st Division of 7, 500 troops under Maj Gen Henry Crealock advanced along the coast, Wood's force of 8, 000 troops became the Flying Column, and the centre column became 2nd Division of 8, 000 troops under Maj Gen Frederick Marshall, again accompanied by Chelmsford. Zulu resistance had weakened; Cetchewayo accepted that defeat was inevitable and tried to negotiate peace. On 1 June the Prince Imperial, heir to the deposed Napoleon III of France, serving as a British officer, was killed in a skirmish. Linking up with Wood, Chelmsford continued his advance to the Zulu capital. The battle of Ulundi on 4 July pitted Chelmsford's 5, 300 troops (including 900 mounted men) against 20, 000 Zulus, in a British victory climaxed by a cavalry charge. Chelmsford deliberately did not entrench or laager, determined to show that his troops could face Zulus in the open. He then withdrew from Ulundi and resigned his command on 8 July. Wolseley, frustrated at not arriving in time to command at Ulundi, saw the war to a conclusion with the pursuit and capture of Cetchewayo on 20 August. He was deposed as paramount chief and Zululand was annexed to British authority at Ulundi on 1 September. The British were so impressed by the courage of their opponents that, most unusually, they erected a memorial to them at Ulundi along with their own.

Bibliography

• Laband, Jon, and Knight, Ian, The War Correspondents: The Anglo-Zulu War (London, 1996).
• —— (ed.), Lord Chelmsford's Zululand Campaign 1879 (London, 1994).
• Morris, Donald R., The Washing of The Spears (London, 1965)

— Stephen Badsey

Zulu War, 1879. The war was the unforeseen result of the desire of Lord Carnarvon, the British colonial secretary, to unite the British colonies and Boer (Afrikaner) republics in South Africa to guarantee the security of white settlers. Sir Bartle Frere, sent out as high commissioner to implement Carnarvon's plan, concluded that Cape Colony would not co-operate as long as the Transvaal Boers were at loggerheads with their Zulu neighbours. Frere accepted the assertion that Zulu military strength constituted a threat to stability in South Africa. Against Carnarvon's strict instructions, Frere demanded impossible concessions from the Zulu ruler and then invaded Zululand in January 1879. The British government accepted the fait accompli and superior British arms overcame the courage and inappropriate tactics of the Zulus who surrendered in July. The renewed aggression of the Boers after the Transvaal had reasserted its internal autonomy in 1881 induced Britain to recognize their claims over a portion of Zululand and the remaining Zulu territory was incorporated into the British colony of Natal.